Old Mrs. Cui was carried home by her two sons.

Because she was so angry and sad, she fainted in front of the red case list in the county government office.

Along the way, the two words she heard the most were: accept your fate.

After returning home.

People from the village came to visit her and advised her to "accept her fate."

We are all farmers working in the fields, born to tend to the crops.

Why bother to study?

Old Mrs. Cui had a wooden face and let others talk about her without saying a word.

Wait until all the outsiders have left.

The old lady called the whole family over and said calmly: "The Cui family was not a family of mud legs before, and they will never be a family of mud legs in the future."

Without waiting for the others to speak.

The old lady pointed outside, turbid tears flowing out of her eyes: "I know that you have complained about me over the years. You don't want to study anymore, and you want to grow crops and live a peaceful life."

"But if you go out and take a look, the muddy fields that can grow crops are actually traps that will eat people. Once you step into them, your ancestors will never be able to get out!"

Her voice was shrill.

Cui Xian listened in a daze and felt extremely shocked.

An unenlightened old country woman from ancient times.

How much suffering must one have endured, how many years of beating must one have gone through to be able to say this.

People often say: The hundreds of thousands of mountains in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan are nightmare prisons that trap countless people for their entire lives.

But for the poor people in Henan, the vast plains of land are...

Isn't it just another form of "Ten Thousand Mountains"?

"Nowadays, everyone laughs at me, the old Cui family, for being hysterical and dreaming of passing the imperial examination. But in just 20 years, they have forgotten that the Cui family once produced a juren master and a scholar husband."

"What right do they have to say that the Cui family is a bunch of idiots? Outside the gate of the Cui Mansion, there used to be a plaque that read "Home of a Juren Scholar"!"

"Boshan, Zhongyuan, mother has been confused these years! Your grandfather was a scholar respected by all the scholars in Nanyang Prefecture, and your father also passed the examination and became a scholar at a young age."

"But why do you two always fail the exam?"

Old Mrs. Cui asked in tears.

The brothers Cui Boshan and Cui Zhongyuan felt like they had a thorn in their throats.

They are indeed studying hard, but... they just can't make any progress.

Only Cui Xian knew the situation.

My uncle and father were not very talented. They only knew how to read books and knew the results but not the reasons.

Besides, how can one pass the exam without a teacher to teach and answer questions?

This is the reason why it is difficult for a poor family to produce a noble son.

Old Mrs. Cui looked at her two sons with disappointment.

After a long while, she recalled in a trembling voice, "Of course, I can't blame you two entirely. Mother knows that you two have suffered these years. Back then, your grandfather went to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to serve as a county magistrate, but encountered the Japanese pirates' rebellion. In order to defend the city and protect the people, your grandfather and grandmother died."

"At that time, you two were still young. Your father...your father went to Zhejiang to attend the funeral, and he was very sad when he came back."

"After the mourning period ended, your father went to Kaifeng to take part in the provincial examination despite his weak health. And then... then he broke down."

"After the provincial examination began, the Imperial Examination Hall was closed. Even if there was a fire in the examination hall or a candidate died suddenly, there was absolutely no reason to open the door. But the nine-day and six-night examination was really exhausting!"

"At that time, your father knew that his health had reached its limit, and begged the examiner to throw him out of the examination room through the wall."

"Because your grandfather died in the war against the Japanese invaders, the chief examiner at that time made an exception and agreed to your father's request."

"I rushed over after hearing the news, and I didn't even have time to cry. Your father was lying outside the examination room with a ferocious look on his face. He tightly grasped my hand and said...said..."

At this point, Mrs. Cui choked up and lost her voice.

Cui Boshan cried, "Mom, stop talking, stop talking!"

"Your father said that even if he spent all his family wealth, he would make Boshan and Zhongyuan famous, otherwise he would die with his eyes wide open! This damned man is so cruel, he really died with his eyes open."

"His words are still ringing in my mind, without stopping for a moment over the years."

Old Mrs. Cui ignored her son and continued in a trembling voice, "I became a widow at a young age, which is already sad. But your good second uncle owed a large amount of foreign debt and clamored to divide the family. You two are young, and mother is a widow, so we can only let him bully us."

"With the elders of the clan witnessing, my mother paid off his debts and divided up the family property. She sold the Cui family's mansion, the paintings and furniture, and hundreds of acres of fertile land. Seventy percent went to him, and we kept thirty percent."

"In the years that followed, we moved back to Hexi Village. In order to support your studies and to help you get married, I sold everything I could and couldn't sell."

"Every pawnshop owner in the county knows me and has laughed at me."

"Even in Nanyang County, people are talking about the hysterical old Cui."

Old Madam Cui smiled sadly and asked, "Boshan, Zhongyuan, tell me, what should I do? What can I do? If you two stop studying, how can I face your father, your grandparents, and your grandparents when I pass away?"

Listening to his grandmother talking about the past, Cui Xian thought that the Cui family had once been very prosperous.

Sadly, the ending is sad.

The brothers Cui Boshan and Cui Zhongyuan knelt down together.

Cui Zhongyuan cried, "Mom, let's study. Keep studying! My brother and I will definitely pass the exam!"

The two daughters-in-law shed tears silently.

Brother and sister Cui Yu and Cui Xuan also started crying.

The various misfortunes of the past have left this family riddled with suffering and filled with pain.

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